Steampunk FB Links, Part 5

Sunday, February 14, 2010

It is odd how inspiration arrives, or at least how one arrives at said inspiration. While enduring NBC’s insipid coverage of the Vancouver Olympics (oh, how I miss the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s presentation), I took that time to update my infrequently used laptop. Aside from the never ending list of updates to it, I began searching for a new wallpaper background. Deciding that it would be an airship, I went looking between Google, Bing, Deviant Art, and a few other locations, searching for an appropriate image. The longer I looked, it seemed to me that there were some overarching generalities regarding airships, which led me to my current (next) poll question.

There seem to be three general categories of airship appearance from the images I located. The first type is a nautical ship suspended by an inflatable and over-pressurized gas bag. Essentially a ship hanging by ropes to some type of balloon holding a lighter-than-air gas, the “Nautical Flying Ship” seems to be the simplest representation of airships. Straightforward in design but classic in appearance, it may be the “oldest” type of airship representation

Next is the Zeppelin-type of airship. Usually based on a rigid or semi-rigid frame holding the lighter-than-air gas, the Zeppelin design also has an attached structure beneath the frame, be it a basic capsule, utilitarian under-carriage, or luxurious accommodations such as those from the Indiana Jones movie, based on the LZ129 (the Hinderberg – Wikipdeia is a wonderful tool…). Obviously, an interior of such a Stemapunk ship would be modified to reflect the Steampunk / Neo-Victorian genre, but this type of Zeppelin ship, with its frame and capsule style, is another style that was also noted in the image search for airships.

The last category seemed to be based on, shall we say, non-obvious means of flight for airships. These airships came in many forms and types, and frequently seem based on traditional military ships of the first half of the century (such as stylized battleships, cruisers, and destroyers from the first and second world wars). Their means of support/propulsion are secondary to their appearance (e.g. they use “cavorite” {first noted in the Wells’ book “First men in the moon”), Liftwood (Space: 1889)), and almost exclusively are angled for military confrontations. For ease of reference, I will simply refer to this category as the “Flying ships with no specific propulsion”.

There is, as always, the “Other” category. However, the only well-known example that I can think of at the moment is the “Flying Wing” airships from “Howl’s Moving Castle”, with ships that had mechanical “flapping wings” to support their air flight. I am confident that there are alternative examples which would fit the “Other” category, and as I come across them, I promise to post them.

I am producing model flying airships based on four basic designs. I would like to release these according to the tastes of this community. They can be seen at www.steampunkairport.com. Input is appreciated.